The Great Housing Hijack by Cameron Murray is the March 2024 book for Australia’s Biggest Book Club.

Cameron Murray will be in conversation with Greg Jericho, chief economist at the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work.

The Great Housing Hijack reveals how vested interests pull the strings on the property market in Australia, and offers a solution for genuinely affordable housing for those who need it.

Everyone claims to want affordable housing, but no one wants cheap housing.

While Australians on regular incomes dream of lower rents and prices, the housing policy debate has been hijacked, sailing further away from workable solutions.

Leading economics commentator Cameron Murray reveals how property insiders shape the housing market and its policy settings. He explains what property developers really mean when they call for more supply in order to provide affordable housing. He shows why landlords and the real estate industry resist rent controls and why the tax and first home buyer policies of the main political parties achieve little for first home buyers. The hoaxes created by the Housing Cheer Squad hide the brutal truth: for every winner in the property market, there is a loser.

‘If you’re not sure you believe the official story of why house prices and rents are so high, read this.’ – Ross Gittins

‘Cameron Murray unpicks Australia’s housing market stitch by stitch and reveals the myths, falsehoods and vested interests that underpin the housing debate.’ – Greg Jericho

Guest Author: Cameron K Murray, Economist and Author of The Great Housing Hijack

Dr Cameron Murray is Australia’s leading expert commentator on housing. He is an economist and co-author of Rigged, and runs his own think-tank, Fresh Economic Thinking. He has been a tenant, a home owner, and a landlord, and he has worked in property development.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, The Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work

Dr Greg Jericho is the Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work. He holds an Honours Degree in Economics from Flinders University.

Greg also writes a weekly column on economics and politics for Guardian Australia – a position he has held since 2013. In 2016 he won the Walkley Award for Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique, and in 2018 he was a Walkley Award finalist with Gareth Hutchens for their report on the crisis of wages in Australia in the Best Industrial Reporting category. He has also written for ABC, SBS and Meanjin with a focus on policy and journalism coverage of Australian politics.

Prior to working at the Australia Institute, Greg lectured in journalism and political communication at the University of Canberra and from 2006 to 2011 he worked in the Australian Public Service predominantly in the arts and film portfolios.

In 2012 his book The Rise of the Fifth Estate: Social Media and Blogging in Australian Politics was published by Scribe.